SF Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band, long SF’s ‘official’...

1of3The San Francisco Lesbian and Gay Freedom Band performs at the reopening of the LGBT Center on April 9, 2017.Photo: Natasha Dangond / The Chronicle

2of3The San Francisco Lesbian and Gay Freedom Band performs at the reopening of the LGBT Center on April 9, 2017.Photo: Natasha Dangond / The Chronicle

3of3The San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band, seen performing during the Veterans Day Parade, became San Francisco’s official band with legislation signed Tuesday by Mayor London Breed.Photo: Jana Asenbrennerova / Special to The Chronicle

San Francisco has an official bird, flower and song. But contrary to popular belief, it never had an official band. Until now.

The San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band has long considered itself the city’s official band. Many politicians thought it was, too. But the band wasn’t officially San Francisco’s official band until Mayor London Breed signed legislation Tuesday that said so.

“I always just assumed you guys were the official band,” state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, said during the signing ceremony.

The ordinance was sponsored by Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who said it was important to honor the band on its 40th anniversary, given its place in San Francisco history.

It was founded in 1978 by Jon Reed Sims in response to singer and conservative political activist Anita Bryant’s anti-gay campaign. It was originally called the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Marching Band and Twirling Corps and was the world’s first openly gay musical group, according to its website.

“This may be the most important day in our history,” said Doug Litwin, president of the band’s Board of Directors, who was holding a black baseball cap at the signing ceremony that had “Official Band” stitched on the back.

The band has been honored as San Francisco’s official band in the past. Then-Supervisor Tom Ammiano issued proclamations on its 20th and 25th anniversaries calling it the city’s official band. Wiener referred to it that way after he joined the Board of Supervisors in 2010.

None of that, however, made the band the official band under San Francisco law.

“But this,” Mandelman said, “is the first time it’s really official. And for real. And that is very exciting for us.”

After Breed signed the legislation on the City Hall steps, she gave her pen to Mandelman. It was his first piece of legislation to be signed into law.

The politicians then cleared the way for the band, which played San Francisco’s official song: “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.”

Trisha Thadani is a City Hall reporter for The San Francisco Chronicle. She previously covered work-based immigration and local startups for the paper’s business section.

Thadani graduated from Boston University with a degree in journalism. Before joining The Chronicle, she held internships at The Boston Globe, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and was a Statehouse correspondent for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.